Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre
The Atlantic Canadian provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) have long been associated with agricultural romanticism. Economically and culturally entrenched in a stereotype of quaintness (Anne of Green Gables is just one of many examples), the region continuou...
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ndltd-uottawa.ca-oai-ruor.uottawa.ca-10393-390042019-03-31T02:04:01Z Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre Brown, Luke Kuling, Peter John queer theatre Atlantic Canada deconstruction queer theory performance nationalism regionalism digital performance web theatre The Atlantic Canadian provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) have long been associated with agricultural romanticism. Economically and culturally entrenched in a stereotype of quaintness (Anne of Green Gables is just one of many examples), the region continuously falls into a cycle of inferiority. In this thesis, I argue that queer theory can be infused into performance analysis to better situate local theatre practice as a site of mobilization. Using terms and concepts from queer geographers and other scholars, particularly those who address capitalism (Gibson-Graham, Massey), this research outlines a methodology of performance analysis that looks through a queer lens in order to destabilize normative assumptions about Atlantic Canada. Three contemporary performances are studied in detail: Christian Barry, Ben Caplan, and Hannah Moscovitch's Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, Ryan Griffith's The Boat, and Xavier Gould’s digital personality “Jass-Sainte Bourque”. Combining Ric Knowles' "dramaturgy of the perverse" (The Theatre of Form 1999) with Sara Ahmed's "queer phenomenology" (Queer Phenomenology 2006) allows for a thorough queer analysis of these three performances. I argue that such an approach positions new Atlantic Canadian performances and dramaturgies as sites of aesthetic and semantic disorientation. Building on Jill Dolan's "utopian performatives" (Utopia in Performance 2005), wherein the audiences experience a collective "lifting above" of normative dramaturgical structures, my use of "queer phenomenology" fosters a plurality of unique perspectives. The process of complicating normalizing tendencies helps dismantle generalizing cultural stereotypes. 2019-03-29T17:26:23Z 2019-03-29T17:26:23Z 2019-03-29 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10393/39004 http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-23254 en application/pdf Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
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queer theatre Atlantic Canada deconstruction queer theory performance nationalism regionalism digital performance web theatre |
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queer theatre Atlantic Canada deconstruction queer theory performance nationalism regionalism digital performance web theatre Brown, Luke Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
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The Atlantic Canadian provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) have long been associated with agricultural romanticism. Economically and culturally entrenched in a stereotype of quaintness (Anne of Green Gables is just one of many examples), the region continuously falls into a cycle of inferiority. In this thesis, I argue that queer theory can be infused into performance analysis to better situate local theatre practice as a site of mobilization. Using terms and concepts from queer geographers and other scholars, particularly those who address capitalism (Gibson-Graham, Massey), this research outlines a methodology of performance analysis that looks through a queer lens in order to destabilize normative assumptions about Atlantic Canada.
Three contemporary performances are studied in detail: Christian Barry, Ben Caplan, and Hannah Moscovitch's Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, Ryan Griffith's The Boat, and Xavier Gould’s digital personality “Jass-Sainte Bourque”. Combining Ric Knowles' "dramaturgy of the perverse" (The Theatre of Form 1999) with Sara Ahmed's "queer phenomenology" (Queer Phenomenology 2006) allows for a thorough queer analysis of these three performances. I argue that such an approach positions new Atlantic Canadian performances and dramaturgies as sites of aesthetic and semantic disorientation. Building on Jill Dolan's "utopian performatives" (Utopia in Performance 2005), wherein the audiences experience a collective "lifting above" of normative dramaturgical structures, my use of "queer phenomenology" fosters a plurality of unique perspectives. The process of complicating normalizing tendencies helps dismantle generalizing cultural stereotypes. |
author2 |
Kuling, Peter John |
author_facet |
Kuling, Peter John Brown, Luke |
author |
Brown, Luke |
author_sort |
Brown, Luke |
title |
Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
title_short |
Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
title_full |
Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
title_fullStr |
Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
title_full_unstemmed |
Queer(y)ing Quaintness: Destabilizing Atlantic Canadian Identity Through its Theatre |
title_sort |
queer(y)ing quaintness: destabilizing atlantic canadian identity through its theatre |
publisher |
Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/39004 http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-23254 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT brownluke queeryingquaintnessdestabilizingatlanticcanadianidentitythroughitstheatre |
_version_ |
1719008603792211968 |